


My Fair Professor

by Merfilly



Category: My Fair Lady (1964)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-13 13:39:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18470077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Modern college interpretation ofMy Fair Lady... or at least how it begins.





	My Fair Professor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rebecca_selene](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebecca_selene/gifts).



Eliza did not understand what in the name of creation she needed to deal with language for when her desired degree was in horticulture, but fine, whatever! She could and would do this! 

Somehow.

She crumpled for a moment, dropping down beside the violets she'd been working with for the church, and felt misery. She wanted to be more than a charity case, or a panderer like her father. How was she going to keep the hard-won scholarships when her written language skills were so… poor? 

She remembered, though, a man that had been at the college fair, one who had looked down his nose at one and all, no matter which walk of life they came from. He'd been bragging, that one had, about being able to teach better than any of the others. That he was a master of the word, and they were all pretenders to his crown.

Well.

She had some money saved. She'd meant to keep saving it for living on while at college classes. Sleeping rough was easy enough, but going hungry was not something that would help her make her way. She'd just have to figure other ways to keep her belly fed.

+++

Henry left off the argument with Hugh as a student walked into his office. She was drab and plain and had to be in the wrong place, but Hugh was already casting a favorable glance her way, as if to take her under wing and guide her back to some version of safety.

It piqued Henry's sense of territory, as ever, to see Hugh acting in such a manner. And then the student spoke.

"Professor, I saw you say you can teach better than any other teacher here—"

"Or anywhere, yes," he interrupted but she blazed on. That… that redirected his ego, to see someone willing to push through his bombastic nature.

"— I need to be able to write and speak myself clear enough to keep my scholarships," she said. "I know the tutors exist, but I need the best! I can pay fees!" she insisted.

Henry started to tell her 'no', but Hugh spoke up.

"Henry, this might just settle it once and for all," Hugh began. "Your new methods, that is. If the girl is desperate enough to come to a professor, outside her class structure, surely you can see this as an opportunity to test the methodology?

"I'd even be willing to help finance it, if you adhere strictly to this method you wish the college to adopt."

"Done!" Henry said, before his eyes fell on the girl. This might be a challenge, if he was reading her social class correctly, but he believed his methods would win.


End file.
